We did the same - we only borrowed about half the max we would have been able to have. No fixed rate mortgages then, and you had to provide proof of incomes too.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
We did the same - we only borrowed about half the max we would have been able to have. No fixed rate mortgages then, and you had to provide proof of incomes too.
My concern is how a lot will cope when the day comes that interest rates do increase. Many have stretched themselves to the limit to get on the property ladder now. When we got our first mortgage the borrowing limit was 2 1/2 times joint income and we stayed well below that.
I think our maximum was twice the joint income or three times the "main" income (which was OH's because I was on a new graduate salary at the time). What we actually did was set ourselves the target of buying below the stamp duty threshold, which at the time was just under half what we could have borrowed. Interest rates have been so low for so long now that many people probably haven't thought about how they would cope if it went back up into double figures (which is probably unlikely, admittedly).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Is it too late to be curmudgeonly about the fact that I couldn't buy my first house? No mortgages for women! Had to formally declare we were getting married and husband-to-be had to sign all the papers............
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Although I was engaged to be married in 1970 my GP would not prescribe The Pill to me until I could show him the Marriage Certificate 🤯 i.e. after the honeymoon ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Somethings don't change. My wife's friend was in her late 20s and heavily pregnant. She looks very young though and had to take her wedding ring off due to pregnancy stuff. She said she was constantly being tutted at by older ladies and being told off as it was assumed she was another unmarried pregnant teenager.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
But at least nowadays she has friends to support her WE, back in the day disapproval from older women would have been the least of her worries. Many attitudes have changed thank goodness.
My mother was from the NE where 'certain' words were/are never spoken, I can't tell you how many unfinished sentences I had to endure when I was a teenager
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Posts
My concern is how a lot will cope when the day comes that interest rates do increase. Many have stretched themselves to the limit to get on the property ladder now. When we got our first mortgage the borrowing limit was 2 1/2 times joint income and we stayed well below that.
Although I was engaged to be married in 1970 my GP would not prescribe The Pill to me until I could show him the Marriage Certificate 🤯 i.e. after the honeymoon ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My mother was from the NE where 'certain' words were/are never spoken, I can't tell you how many unfinished sentences I had to endure when I was a teenager